


Escaping the Sandstorm

by freyjawriter24



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 12:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7532833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freyjawriter24/pseuds/freyjawriter24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of The Force Awakens (and possibly a little while after that, too), Rey, Finn and Poe are living with and working for the Resistance. It's a close community, but as always rumours start - and they're slightly incorrect.</p>
<p>Just a short discussion of feelings and a declaration of identity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escaping the Sandstorm

It’s a galaxy far, far away. It’s huge and vast and varied, but somehow it is smaller than ours – everyone knows everyone, and many people have seen more planets than they have lived years.

This is a world in which a hundred different species interact in a single city every day. And yet this story was still a long time ago.

There was much more acceptance there than there is now in some places on Earth. In general, no one ever has a problem with it – inter-species relationships were always far, far more serious to the intolerant. But this was still a heteronormative society.

***

When the Stormtrooper named FN-2187 found Poe, he was a broken man. He had betrayed everything he believed in, because he could not withstand the torture. He had given in, given up. There was barely even an ember of hope left in the dying fire of his heart. He had failed, terribly, and for that he was going to die – but worse, so were his friends, colleagues, those who believed the same things as him. When Stormtrooper FN-2187 found Poe, he was resigned to his fate. He was ready to die.

And then, from this faceless shell of a black and white suit, from out of this image of death and soldier-hood, came a scared but determined person. The boy was young, inexperienced, and he needed a pilot. Within five minutes of meeting each other, they had both saved each other’s lives.

And that dying ember was relit, and a flicker of hope turned into a flame, and then there was a rush of burning excitement when he finally got the chance to fly again. _This is what I was born for_ , he thought ecstatically.

He named the cute guy firing the guns Finn, because everyone should have a name, and it should not just be a number. They experienced the thrill of the chase together, the fantastic rush caused by their new-found freedom.

***

Then the ship crashed, and each thought the other was dead. Poe mourned his new friend silently, because he hadn’t really known him that well, and because he had a job to do.

But Finn was mourning the first friend he’d had who wasn’t a Stormtrooper. He was mourning the person who had freed him, who had helped him leave the institution he no longer had faith in. He was dumped on a desert planet, with only a jacket to remember him by.

He struggled on. Finn knew nothing about this new world. There was a girl who lived here, breathed here, knew every facet of every grain of sand on this forsaken planet. He tried to help her, do what he was told he must – hold her hand, help her out, make sure she kept up with him. But that wasn’t how Rey worked. _Let go!_

_He_ was the one struggling to keep up with _her_. Gender roles be damned, if the Stormtroopers didn’t know anything about Finn himself, maybe they didn’t know this either. Rey was the expert in this area, and Finn decided not to stop her.

For the second time, he found himself in need of a pilot, and for the second time a pilot he found. She flew just as well as Poe did, even if the spaceship they were in was ‘junk’. But Finn never consciously compared the two – he had already learned, living behind a mask, faceless among a hundred thousand nameless individuals, that everyone was different, and you could not judge what was on the outside.

Finn grew. He evolved, learned the result of lying, learned the guidance of Han Solo, learned about the Force and the girl who could unknowingly wield it. Rey grew, learned there was _so much green_ in the galaxy, learned that that sandy planet was not home, that she didn’t need to resign herself to living in a desert forever, and that family didn’t require blood. They grew and learned together, and they became the type of friends who do not easily part. Yes, it was love, but not of the romantic variety.

***

When Finn saw Poe again, alive, climbing from a spacecraft unscathed, living and breathing and smiling just as he had that first day, he felt something bright jump in his chest. Relief, happiness, thankfulness, comfort, pleasure.

When Poe saw Finn again, he had a similar sensation, but on a different level – his heart jumped, and he remembered what they had been through, and what he had thought – _cute_. His overwhelming relief and happiness was intermingled with a hint of a strange delight.

They hugged like old friends, and only then did Poe notice the jacket. He told him he could keep it, because it suited him, and because he knew Finn needed something of his own after a life of nothingness, lived out in black and white. It was then that he acknowledged the warmth in his chest, but he dismissed it for now. _He’s not ready._

***

Finn had spent more time with Rey, but Poe had meant everything to Finn, even if just for a moment. On D’Qar, as part of the Resistance, in the months afterwards they became close. Very close. Poe began to start listening to the warmth in his chest again, because at some point along the way, he realised Finn felt a similar sensation too.

But this was still a heteronormative society.

Among the members of the Resistance, there were jokes muttered about Finn and Rey. The amount of time they had spent together, saving the galaxy, the amount of time they still spent together now, working for the Resistance, the other rebels saw something that was not there. They were painted as the power couple-to-be, with Poe alternately as the older brother, the mentor, or, for those who knew, the gay best friend. Only the human lesbian pilot couple and their non-binary Togruta friend realised the truth – and, out of respect for privacy, and because they weren’t sure if even the three heroes knew it themselves, they kept it quiet.

Had Han been around, his stony glare would have stopped the rumours short. But he wasn’t, so they continued to spread.

They called the couple ‘Sandstorm’ – it was a code word to them, but we would call it a ship name. (Years later a new ship was brought into the resistance, and it was dubbed Sandstorm – whether in reference to the code word or not, no one knew. It was stolen, and Poe ended up being the pilot who shot it down).

The jokes were mainly uttered behind backs or closed doors, so it was a well-established idea in the Resistance before Rey heard about it. She was confused at first, but when she realised they were being serious, she shot them down.

“ _No!_ No way, we’re just friends!” _Sure, sure_ they muttered. She turned red.

“Finn is like my brother, and Poe is one of my closest friends. And whatever you think, I think that’s important. Tight friendships are the _best_ thing you can have. And I don’t want rumours spread that aren’t true. People can feel however they want, because they can’t control it. But you can’t ascribe feelings to people that they don’t have. I _love_ both Finn and Poe, equally. But I am not _in love_ with either of them. So please stop pretending I am.”

The outburst spread rapidly around the Resistance. Poe, who had not been there, felt incredibly proud, and as soon as he saw her next, he gave Rey the biggest hug he could. Finn, who was there, had watched with his mouth open, and grinned at her when she sat back down. But he also started thinking.

That was the catalyst. It went from there.

They began quietly, spending more time as a couple, but only telling Rey. Leia was the second to know, of course, and she hugged the pair of them when they told her. It was subtle gestures – touches of hands and lingering looks – but the pilot girlfriends started nudging Poe when they were sure it was happening. And all he did was blush.

BB-8 had to be bribed to not tell anyone. The droid was promised (by both Poe and Finn, separately) that if there was ever a proposal, they would be involved (and though it took a while, they were – each man gave BB-8 the ring he had had made. The date was the same. The droid rolled forward on cue, and triumphantly held out rings to both men together. There was surprise, and then there was laughter. And then there were cries of ‘yes!’ and kissing. BB-8 was proud of their best friends, and rushed to tell R2).

It was a quiet night, just the three of them, when Rey first asked them to explain how they felt. She understood love, as a concept, but she could never apply it to anyone in the sense of romantic love, and she didn’t feel the other kind, either, no matter how many ‘cute guys’ passed through. Other people kept asking, and she had no response to give them. _What do you two feel for each other?_

It took time to explain. Finn was still learning, discovering more about his identity every day. Rey didn’t even know hers was unusual until that point. But Poe had lived out in the wide galaxy – he had seen this before. They explored terms for weeks, months, and finally settled on concepts that, when translated, had similar definitions to our own.

***

When Finn and Poe announced their relationship, it was a joint celebration with the coming out of Finn and Rey.

“I’m pansexual and demi.” Finn stumbled over the words slightly, and Poe held his hand.

“I’m aromantic and asexual.” The determination and pride were clear in Rey’s voice.

Their nerves soon fell away at the uproarious response, Finn’s face brightening and Rey’s serious mask dissolving into a wide grin.

Leia made a speech and hugged them. (She and Luke talked about it via holopad after the event, and he came out to a close circle a few weeks after). The two pilots clapped and cheered, and their friend laughed when people expressed shock that Poe was gay. Everyone, of every species and orientation, of every identity, danced and sang and partied.

For one night there was peace and acceptance everywhere in the Resistance. And for one night, they could pretend that it extended throughout the galaxy.


End file.
